My challenge is over in 8 days time.  The great thing for me is that from an over all perspective, I don’t really consider myself to be on a challenge, rather, I am now living a lifestyle that promotes healthy living with ample exercise.  So my challenge may finish, but the gym work and exercise will continue.  No more fat bird!

I feel great, and can wear clothes I have not worn for a long time.  Lucky I am not too worried about fashion, I am a few years out of date!  I tried some of my old fat clothes on.  That really hit home how far I have come.  I could not keep my pants up and the shirts, you could have fit two of me in them.  It looked plain ridiculous.  Yet 11 weeks ago, those clothes were starting to become a little too tight!

So yes, the weight loss has been tremendous.  Better yet is the change in lifestyle, which has resulted in me having more energy, a better general state of mind (I feel much happier in and about myself), and no longer feel self conscious walking down the street.  The self confidence eroded so slowly, I did not notice it going, but now that I feel confident again, it is easy to see how far I had slipped.  I am thankful I have had this opportunity.

Turning back the clock 11 weeks, if someone had said to me, in 11 weeks time you can be 15kg – 33 pounds – lighter, and feel much better with healthier skin, and it would only cost me $500, I would have paid it ten times over.  And never believed it possible.  But here I am.  Not quite at the finish line of the actual challenge, but already feeling like I have conquered.

To anyone struggling out there with weight, and the host of negative emotions and feelings that come bundled with it, never give up on yourself.  I know what it feels like to be in a state where it seems there is no hope, no way back.  But there is.  It happens one step at a time.  And the journey, although having ups and downs, gets progressively easier.

My 12 weeks is almost up.  The new lifestyle I have is not only something I can maintain indefinitely, I enjoy it a heck of a lot more than I did back in the day.

Rant ends.